Pennsylvania maximum weekly unemployment benefit 2026.

The 2026 figures in one line

Maximum weekly benefit rate $605; with the dependents’ allowance $613; minimum $68; first chart row $1,688 of highest quarterly wages; credit week $116; at least 18 credit weeks; maximum benefit amount credit weeks x rate, capped at 26 x rate; at least 37 percent of base-year wages outside the high quarter; employer taxable wage base $10,000.

How the Financial Charts work

The state’s eligibility page carries the chart in three parts. Part A is a range of highest quarterly wages, Part B is the rate of compensation for that range, and Part C is the qualifying wages, the total base-year wages you must have to be financially eligible at that row. The chart read for this page starts at $1,688 to $1,712, which pays $68 and needs $2,718 of qualifying wages, and runs through 538 rows: the second-last is $15,363 to $15,387, which pays $604 and needs $24,424, and the last is “15,388 or more” at $605, where the qualifying amount is whatever section 401(a)(2) requires. Each row adds one dollar to the rate.

The page carries a note on the 2 percent benefit reduction required under Act 144: the rates of $98, $147, $196, $245, $294, $343, $392, $441, $490 and $539 now correspond to two different ranges of highest quarterly wage and qualifying wages in the statutory table. That is why a few ranges on the chart are wider than the usual $25 step, and why the lookup above flags a wage that lands in one of those doubled ranges.

Credit weeks, the 37 percent rule and dependents

A credit week is any calendar week, Sunday through Saturday, within the base year in which you earned $116 or more, no matter when paid, and you can have only one credit week per calendar week. You are not eligible with fewer than 18 credit weeks. Your maximum benefit amount for the benefit year is the number of credit weeks multiplied by your weekly benefit rate, but it may not exceed 26 times the rate, which is how the DOL table arrives at 18 to 26 weeks.

Section 401(a)(2) of the UC Law, quoted on the state page, requires that “not less than thirty-seven per centum (37%) of the employee’s total base year wages have been paid in one or more quarters, other than the highest quarter.” The base year is generally the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before the application date, and the benefit year is 52 consecutive weeks from that date. The DOL table records the dependents’ allowance as $5 for the first dependent and $3 for the second, which lifts the top of the range from $605 to $613.

Worked examples

Highest quarterly wage $15,388, 30 credit weeks, a spouse and a child: the chart row “15,388 or more” pays $605; the allowance adds $5 + $3 = $8 for $613 a week. The maximum benefit amount is capped at 26 x $605 = $15,730 because 30 credit weeks exceed 26.

Highest quarterly wage $1,700, base-year wages $2,800, 20 credit weeks, no dependents: the first row applies, $68 a week, and $2,800 meets the $2,718 qualifying amount. Twenty credit weeks x $68 gives a $1,360 maximum benefit amount. Base-year wages outside the high quarter are $1,100, which is 39 percent of $2,800, so the 37 percent test is met.

Highest quarterly wage $1,500: below the first chart row, so no rate is listed and the claimant is not financially eligible on wages alone.

Method

The lookup finds the chart row whose Part A range contains the highest quarterly wage you type and reports its Part B rate and Part C qualifying wages, adds $5 for a first dependent and $3 for a second, checks your base-year wages against the qualifying amount and the 37 percent rule, and multiplies the lesser of your credit weeks and 26 by the rate. The 538 chart rows were read from pa.gov on November 11, 2026; the dependents’ figures and the $10,000 wage base come from the DOL July 2026 table.

What this does not cover

• Whether the chart on the state page is the one in force for your application date; the Notice of Financial Determination is the official rate.
• The alternate base year, partial benefit credit and non-monetary eligibility.
• Which dependents qualify for the allowance; the state page says the Notice establishes it.
• Changes after November 11, 2026.

Figures read from the sources below on November 11, 2026. Last updated November 11, 2026.

Sources

• Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry: UC eligibility information and Financial Charts (retrieved November 11, 2026)
• U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance: Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, effective July 2026 (PDF) (retrieved November 11, 2026)